Taking action to address a recent furor over fraud cases, three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday presented the draft of an amendment to the Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Law (電腦處理個人資料保護法), the nation's main legislation dealing with personal data protection.
The amendment, drafted by DPP legislators Chen Chao-lung (
Article 33 of the law currently states that "a person with an intention to seek profits ... shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than two years, detention, or, in addition thereto, a fine of not more than NT$40,000."
By comparison, the amendment calls for a jail term of one to seven years and/or a fine with a NT$1 million upper limit.
"We think that one to seven years gives the legal system more flexibility, as well as ensuring heavier punishments for offenders," Tsai said.
The legislators also want to expand the scope of the protection law. The protection law only covers cases within eight major industries and organizations: hospitals, schools, credit investigation, telecommunications, financial services, securities, insurance and mass media.
As a result, offenses occurring outside those areas are not being covered, the legislators said.
They proposed yesterday that the law be renamed the "Personal Protection Law" (
David Liu (劉佐國), a senior specialist at the Ministry of Justice, said the ministry supported the idea that the law be revised to give more comprehensive coverage. He quoted a case where a girl wished to sue a video store for releasing video recordings of her to an unwelcome suitor. However, because video stores don't fall under the eight major industries currently covered, the girl could do nothing.
The ministry has recently submitted a report, complete with suggestions to improve the situation, to the Executive Yuan.
The three legislators said that the draft amendment has been sent to the Executive Yuan for review. If the proposal successfully passes the review in the Executive Yuan, the legislators said to expect the amendment's introduction to the Legislative Yuan in the fall, during the next legislative session, at the earliest.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
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